Teaching students to think mathematically or to apply mathematics to the solution of real-world problems has become a national priority. This paper explores a method of developing the basic problem-solving skills in a remedial mathematics course at the college freshman level. The first part of this paper describes some basic problem-solving skills…

A study examined the ways in which college readers interact with literary texts. The method of interviews and think-along protocols, in which a text was read aloud by the subject while he simultaneously verbalized his thoughts, was used to compare the reading processes of eight college freshman to those of eight masters students in literature who…

A new model of the revision process in written composition, based on the results of thinking aloud protocol studies, is presented in this report. The report begins by discussing earlier observations and theories of revision that establish four points: (1) there are large differences among writers in the amount of revising they do, (2) expert…

Noting that the new literary and rhetorical theories are concerned with revealing the constructive nature of productive and interpretive processes, this paper examines the cognitive processes in reading and writing which make them constructive and intentional acts, and how reader and writer "negotiate" meaning in light of context, reader…

Protocol analysis and a literature review were used to determine the ways novice and expert writers, from elementary to postsecondary levels, deal with the cognitive processes that constitute writing. They found that writing is goal-directed, writing goals are hierarchically organized, and writers accomplish their goals through planning, sentence…

Analyzes the editing behavior of skilled and less skilled writers. Results show that while the more skilled writers almost always corrected more errors than the less skilled, the two groups performed similarly on their own essays where neither corrected many errors at all. (SRT)

A study aimed to discover a correspondence between the thinking processes and textual structures of six eleventh graders. In a predominantly White, middle class rural high school, six students were selected to think aloud as they read two essays written as part of two assignments for their advanced English classes. The six were selected based on…

This study was conducted to gain descriptive insights into the routines, practices, perceptions, and interactions that make up the everyday ecology of classrooms serving African American children from low-income backgrounds. A taxonomic scheme was devised for examining the realities of what occurs in classrooms. The taxonomy identifies five…

Investigates the effects of awareness, or lack thereof, on 32 adult second or foreign language learners' subsequent intake and written production of targeted Spanish morphological forms. Think-aloud protocol data were used to measure awareness or lack of it, and morphological learning was assessed by the learners' performances on two postexposure…

Investigates high school students' understanding of the physical relationship of chromosomes and genes as expressed in their conceptual models and in their ability to manipulate the models to explain solutions to dihybrid cross problems. Describes three typical models and three students' reasoning processes. Discusses four implications. (YP)

Describes a model that teaches a problem-solving process and provides students with the opportunity to practice, develop, and enhance their thinking skills. States that applying learning to real problems is needed to increase a student's thinking ability. Provides diagrams of the problem-solving cycle and levels of thinking. (RT)

Reports a study which examined the effects of direct instruction on the think-aloud protocols of ninth grade readers. Students made think-aloud protocols on two stories before and after instruction. Although the instruction did not substantially affect students' interpretive operations in reading, some students were less submissive to the text.…

Reports a study in Hong Kong that used a think-aloud protocol to examine the use and effectiveness of Chinese university students' inferential strategies for dealing with unknown words while reading in English. Findings show that advanced second-language readers are moderately efficient at using local and discourse context clues, although wrong…

This investigation of domain-specific professional reading clarified the way 12 professionally active teachers select and read journal articles in their field. Think-aloud reports identified categories of (1) using strategies; (2) connecting to practice; (3) monitoring; (4) questioning; and (5) evaluating. These teachers created meaning in complex…

The seminal work by Ericsson and Simon established verbal reports as a genuine way to get a glimpse into the "black box" of the workings of the human mind, and it is now recognised as a method of value in the pursuit of new knowledge relating to, for instance, learner strategies, cognitive strategies, human-computer interaction, and functionality…